Work Text:
“I’m home,” Shigeo called halfheartedly, slipping his shoes off and hanging his soaked coat on the rack. He had had one hell of a day, and the cherry on top of it all was the downpour that started right as he left the office. He was now cold and sopping wet and wanted to do nothing besides crawl into the comfort of his bed and sleep forever.
As he began to unbutton the top of his wet shirt, Teru came out into the kitchen. “Oh my god, you’re soaked,” He said upon seeing Shigeo. He grabbed a towel from the drawer and hurried over to him.
“Yeah,” Was all Shigeo could muster as Teru reached up and dried his hair, then helped him finish unbuttoning his shirt. With the shirt off, he slung the towel around Shigeo’s pale shoulders and turned to go grab him a sweater from their room.
A shiver ran down his spine as he stood there, and he decided to put some water on the stove for a pot of tea. Filling the kettle, he sniffled once before sneezing. Great, now he was going to catch a cold.
Teru rushed back out with one of Shigeo’s thick, comfortable sweaters and a pair of socks as well as pajama pants in hand. “You go change into these, don’t worry, I can make us some tea,” Teru said, seeing him putting the kettle on.
Shigeo nodded and took the clothes from him. He put on the sweater right away, relieved to not have to be without a shirt any longer. He then changed his pants and socks, shivers still running through him intermittently.
“Go lay down on the couch, I’ll bring the tea over once it’s ready. Oh, and do you want to get ramen for dinner? I know it’s kind of late and you’re tired, so we could just have it delivered,” Teru called over to him, flitting about the kitchen busily.
“Sure,” He replied weakly. Mob was privately relieved he didn’t suggest that he cook. Teru had been experimenting with some recipes to try and save money, and they had been, well, experimental. Even on a good day, Mob couldn’t cook, so they almost always resorted to going out or getting takeout from somewhere nearby. Personally, he didn’t mind that at all, but Teru saw something wrong with only ever eating out, so he decided to take it upon himself to learn how to cook.
After a few minutes of laying there, Teru brought over two mugs of green tea along with some cookies on a small plate and placed them on the coffee table, sitting down beside him. Noticing Shigeo’s questioning expression in regards to the cookies he cleared his throat and said, “Your mom made us these to take home when we last visited, remember? I didn’t make them, you’ll be relieved to know.”
Mob almost laughed but simply nodded. He grabbed his mug–the one with cows patterned across the side–and took a sip from it. The steam coming off of it felt nice on his face, and he could feel the heat warming up his insides.
Teru sipped his tea quietly for a few moments. He took note of Shigeo’s aura, which was as weak as the man himself seemed. Its normally shimmering swirls of color were barely noticeable. It just seemed so tired.
Mob cleared his throat. “I think I hit 100 today,” He said, looking down into his tea. “100 percent exhausted, that is.”
Teru nodded slowly. That would explain why his aura was so faint. “Do you want to talk about it? We don’t have to if you’re not feeling like it, though. We can just relax.”
“Just relax,” Shigeo answered, an exhale of tiredness.
“Okay,” Teru said, standing up and putting his tea down on the table, “Let me just go get you some more blankets and… do you think medicine might help? I can go grab some from the drugstore if you need–”
“No,” Mob replied slowly, taking hold of Teru’s hand. “If it’s alright with you, can you and I just… lay here? I think I’ll feel better after that.”
“Oh,” Teru said, his eyebrows raising for a moment. “Of course, Shige. You don’t even have to ask.” He sat back down on the couch, and the two of them laid down across its length entwined. Shigeo sighed and clung to Teru, who held him and ran his warm fingers through his damp hair.
They laid like that for a while, quiet save for the sound of the rain and Shigeo sneezing every so often. Teru rubbed his back gently and whispered “It’s okay,” or “I love you,” from time to time.
As they laid there, Teru could feel Shigeo’s aura begin to strengthen. Very slowly and in small increments, of course, but still. It was as if Teru was a battery, charging him back up.
He could clearly tell that Shigeo had not had a very good day. His work had been gaining traction, but that meant that it took up far more time and energy out of him. He had been forced to leave earlier and earlier in the morning and not come home until it was getting late. At this point, he didn’t have any time for his hobbies, like going to the gym to work out or taking walks around the city. From what Teru had seen, he was becoming nothing but a work machine, numb to the world around him.
While Teru wasn’t the one working so hard, it was taking a toll on him too. He had to plan around Shigeo’s intense work schedule and adjust to the new normal. When Shigeo got home at night, he rarely ever felt like talking much, and he usually just ate dinner, did some more work for a little while, and then went straight to sleep. Teru couldn’t help but notice how distant he had become in the recent few weeks. He missed his husband.
As Teru stroked his head gently, he noticed that Shigeo had fallen asleep, his breaths even and slow. He couldn’t help but wonder what exactly had caused him to go 100. Sure, the buildup of the past weeks must have been grating at him, slowly raising his level of exhaustion, but there must have been some sort of catalyst that tipped him over the edge. Perhaps it had something to do with the rain?
As he mulled it over, resolving to get a more concrete explanation once Shigeo regained some of his strength, he felt his eyelids begin to grow heavy. He'd had a long day too, probably not as long as his Shigeo’s, but still long enough to make him tired by the end of it. He sighed into Shigeo’s hair and nuzzled in closer where it was warmer and more comfortable. After a few minutes, he ended up falling asleep as well.
_____
When Teru awoke, he blinked twice before realizing it was light outside. As he began to sit up, he felt stirring beside him. Shigeo was waking up too, clutching Teru’s sweater tightly. “Nngh,” he muttered, his voice deep and raspy.
Teru cleared his throat, trying to orient himself. “Hey,” he said softly, running a hand through Shigeo’s hair.
Shigeo rubbed some of the sleep from his eyes and sat up too. “What time is it?”
Teru craned his neck to look at the clock on the wall of the kitchen. “Oh, it’s 10. I guess we just slept in, huh?”
“Yeah…” Shigeo began, his brow furrowed.
“How are you feeling?” Teru asked as he stroked the side of Shigeo’s cheek with his thumb. “Any better than last night?”
“Yeah.” He nuzzled into Teru’s chest. “A lot, actually.” He paused a moment before sighing. “I’m late for work though.”
Teru frowned. “You can’t possibly be thinking about going in to work after last night, can you? You need to rest. Work can wait.”
“I guess. I’m feeling better though. Maybe I can go in tomorrow.”
Sighing, Teru looked down at him. “Shige… I know we’re in a sort of tough spot financially, but I don’t want you to work yourself to the point where you can’t function–the point you were at last night. If that’s what has to happen, then we need to change something.” He swallowed. “I could get a job, or we could stay at your parents house–they’re always talking about how willing they are to help us out–or even Ritsu and Shou, they could probably help us too. But I can’t sit here and watch you work yourself to the bone. I love you, Shige.” With that, he planted a kiss onto his forehead.
“I love you too,” Shigeo began after a moment. “We’ll be okay. Work’s just been needing a lot from me lately. It’ll be over soon.”
Teru took a breath. “I hope so. I miss seeing you–it can get lonely here, especially when you’re working overtime and everything.” He shook his head. “It’s alright, let’s have some breakfast. Are you hungry?”
Shigeo nodded and got up along with Teru. The apartment was cool from the October air, but the sunlight filtering through the window warmed up the kitchen and living room and made it feel much less cold than it was. Rubbing his eyes, Teru pulled on a sweater and went to open the fridge to see what they had. Just then, he heard a loud, fast knock at the door.
Shigeo was still on the couch orienting himself, so he walked over to the door and opened it to find Ritsu and Shou.
“Oh, hi guys–”
“Where have you been?” Ritsu interrupted, his voice rising. He held up his phone. “You haven’t been answering any of our calls or texts.”
“Um,” Teru glanced back at Shigeo, who shrugged. “Why don’t you guys come in?”
They took a few steps into the apartment but didn’t take off their shoes or coats. “We’re supposed to go to the museum this morning,” Ritsu said, crossing his arms.
“–And have dinner together last night,” Shou interjected, his hands shoved into his jacket pockets. “You guys stood us up.”
Teru looked over at Shigeo again, both their brows furrowed. “Wasn’t that tonight? And the museum was tomorrow, right?”
“Uh, no? We said Friday night and Saturday morning, remember?”
Shigeo walked over towards them. “Yeah, and it’s Friday today. Why aren’t you guys at work?”
“Why aren’t you at work then, dude? It’s Saturday,” Shou said, pulling out his phone and showing the couple the date.
Teru and Shigeo looked at the phone, then looked at each other in disbelief. “We– we slept for–”
“For 36 hours,” Mob finished, his hand on his forehead.
Ritsu looked at them confusedly. “What are you guys talking about? If something’s going on, just tell us. We don’t care, we’ll be fine–”
“Ritsu, we slept for 36 hours. I went 100, but for the first time ever it was 100 percent exhausted. We fell asleep on the couch on Thursday night and just woke up a few minutes ago.”
“I didn’t even know that could happen,” Ristu mused, “100 percent exhausted, that is.”
“Yeah, we didn’t either,” Teru said. “You know Shige, maybe I absorbed some of your exhaustion, and if I weren’t there then you would’ve slept for longer. I wasn’t that tired myself, but I still slept for 36 hours too,” he wondered, looking at Shigeo.
“Yeah…” Shigeo trailed off. “So I guess I missed work yesterday, huh.”
“Wait,” Shou said, stepping forward, “Why did you even hit 100 percent exhaustion? Like, what happened?”
Shigeo sighed. “Work has been very demanding lately. I haven’t had the time to do anything I wanted to do, it was all just work, all the time.”
“Yeah,” Teru continued, “He’s been having to leave at six and not getting home ‘til nine or ten. And working most weekends too.”
“Yikes.”
“Shige,” Ritsu said, placing a hand on Shigeo’s arm, “Why didn’t you tell me? I can come in and help sometimes. That’s what brothers are for, right?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner,” He looked at Ritsu and Teru, “I guess maybe I didn’t even realize how hard I was working until it was too late.”
“Hm,” Shou said, nodding solemnly before seeming to forget the whole thing. “Well, are we still on for the museum?”
Ritsu shot him a look. “Shige obviously needs to rest. Teruki too. We can go another day. I’ll text you guys the days we’re free.”
They both nodded. “Thank you so much for understanding, Ritsu. We’ll definitely be in touch, especially now that we’re awake!”
Everyone laughed and the two visitors bade farewell. After they were gone, Teru sighed. “I still can’t believe we slept for 36 whole hours.”
“Yeah,” Shigeo said, looking down. "It was kind of nice though. I feel so much better now."
Teru chuckled and wrapped an arm around Shigeo's waist. "Yeah, well, let's not make it a habit." He pulled him in for a brief kiss before parting. "Now: breakfast."